Harwood Staff Blog update, December 18, 2020

What is good the goose is good for the gander..

Team Harwood; 

Thank you all for your flexibility Thursday’s as we yet again pivoted (yes pivoted)  to another schedule.

While everyone’s exhaustion is great and capacity low - your continued commitment to Harwood’s students was reflected in a million different ways this week.  Here are just a few gratitudes that reflect your incredible spirit:

• Observing students do the heavy lifting during a Harkness in Laura Wedel’s AP Spanish class 

• Heidi and Wendy supported students asynchronously who needed additional support and going above and beyond in their communication with families to facilitate this.

• Mel’s vigilance and follow up with chronic absences as a means of supporting families in receiving the services needed

• Heather for reaching out to students to provide even more additional support asynchronously after continued brainstorming with Jess 

• Paul, Marcus, Elissa, Mary and Stephanie for leaning in to our discussion about Race and Equity with humility and honesty

• Kathy, Paul and Rachael for your work to ready for the staff meeting this week - thank you for continuing to ensure we prioritize the much needed work around Racism and equity in our community.

• Chelsea for her continued creativity and care of her students with the little things that provide JOY and TLC. 

• Sarah, Jon, Wendy M. and Jen for their continued excellent middle school leadership

• For Kendra’s R. excellent food drive idea and our upcoming Ice Cream Truck event.    

• The maintenance crew for cleaning up our sidewalks and driveway after the snowfall.

• Chris Langevin for ordering and picking up our new coffee tumblers! (Yay shwaaaaag!)

• Katie Pike and Peter Arsenault for coming up with fun ways to keep our students engaged and active in arctic conditions.  

• For Nancy’s announcements. 

• Alex Rawson for organizing coffee and for Sally M. for picking up donuts.

 

In continued partnership,

Meg, Duane and Laurie

Curious  

Topics	Information/Links	Tasks/Point people
Anticipated Holiday Travel	As you continued to finalize your Vacation plans please reach out to your administrators to let us know if you will be unable to return to work after break due to COVID related return to work requirements	Meg, Laurie and Duane
Attendance reminders	Please remember to take attendance in the 1st 10 min. of class. And, remember - ONLY students who you can literally “see in front of you” should be marked as a P.	Meg, Laurie and Duane
Short Term - Unexpected Remote schedule	If we have to pivot to Remote Learning on 01/04 due to staffing shortages after break we will use the following schedule.  9:00 - 9:20 - Teaching Advisory  9:30 - 10:10 - Block 1 10:20 - 11:00 - Block 2 11:10 - 11:50 - Block 3 12:00 - 12:30 - Lunch  12:40 - 1:20 - Block 4 1:30 - 2:47 - Office Hours  Please remember that this synchronous schedule will ONLY be for the cohorts/students who are scheduled on those days to be onsite.	Laurie, Meg and Duane
Wellness check reminder		Laurie, Meg and Duane

Topics 

Information/Links

Tasks/Point people 

Anticipated Holiday Travel

As you continued to finalize your Vacation plans please reach out to your administrators to let us know if you will be unable to return to work after break due to COVID related return to work requirements 

Meg, Laurie and Duane 

Attendance reminders

Please remember to take attendance in the 1st 10 min. of class.

And, remember - ONLY students who you can literally “see in front of you” should be marked as a P.

Meg, Laurie and Duane 

Short Term - Unexpected Remote schedule

If we have to pivot to Remote Learning on 01/04 due to staffing shortages after break we will use the following schedule. 

• 9:00 - 9:20 - Teaching Advisory 

• 9:30 - 10:10 - Block 1

• 10:20 - 11:00 - Block 2

• 11:10 - 11:50 - Block 3

• 12:00 - 12:30 - Lunch 

• 12:40 - 1:20 - Block 4

• 1:30 - 2:47 - Office Hours 

Please remember that this synchronous schedule will ONLY be for the cohorts/students who are scheduled on those days to be onsite.  

Laurie, Meg and Duane

Wellness check reminder 

Laurie, Meg and Duane 

Caring 

Topics	Information/Links	Tasks/Point people
COVID test	The next surveillance testing date is scheduled for Tuesday Jan. 12th.	Amanda, Eric and Tracy
Reminders from our health office	Most people are feeling a lot of different ways at once right now, which is hard for our brains to process and understand. This year has been a difficult year for many reasons. That means that some of your distress is likely related to things other than the holidays. It is completely normal for you to be feeling a bit more emotional than usual right now. Take some time to sort through your emotions in whatever way is most productive for you - you can journal, talk to a friend, or just spend some quiet time alone thinking. Once you have a better idea of the specific feelings you’re experiencing, you can start making plans to cope with them.While the holidays are mainly about thankfulness and celebration, this can also be a really hard time of year, even during normal circumstances. If you’re missing a loved one, think of ways to honor them during your festivities. If someone you love has lost a job or had to drop out of school, take the time to recognize the challenges that came with that. Even if you haven’t lost anything concrete, we’ve all lost our sense of normalcy this year – it’s okay to grieve that during this time. Gratitude is a major focus this time of year, and while it may seem harder to find things to appreciate, there is still plenty to be thankful for. Make a conscious effort to regularly identify some things that you’re grateful for.If you’re still finding yourself sad, hopeless, or unable to enjoy the holidays this year, you may be struggling with a mental health condition. Schedule an appointment with your healthcare provider or access the free services offered through the Employee Assistance Program (888) 834-2830 (available 24/7) Website: Invest EAP Password: vteap	Amanda & Tracy
High School TA plans for the coming week and after the break!	Break is so VERY close! Next week, since we will only see our cohorts for one day, this is a great time to do a little holiday trivia. I found this quick questionnaire in my internet travels this week.  Following the Break… Let’s close out 2020 and ring in 2021: For 2020: Materials Needed: Paper strips (I will provide for all TA groups) On each strip respond to: What are you glad to leave behind from 2020? AND: What are some bright spots for 2020? Share as a group some of your thoughts. Then...crumple the papers describing what we are happy to leave behind and place in the recycling bin.  For 2021: Materials Needed: Post-its (enough for everyone to have several) Write one hope, dream or goal for 2021 on each post-it.  I will be creating a bulletin board by the Wellness Center with “2021” at the center. All of the post-its will be placed on the bulletin board as we look forward to the new year! (If you do not have post-its for this activity, please let me know.) Questions of the Week for Asynchronous Wellness Check in: What did you do during your free time this week? What was your best accomplishment this week? What three words would you use to describe this week? What was your favorite toy growing up? What is your favorite meal to eat on special occasions? Who is someone that always makes you smile? Why?	Ellen
HU Mugs	If you haven’t yet picked up your HU mug stop by the staff lounge to grab yours!  Free coffee refills each Friday in the Wellness Center ;)

Topics 

Information/Links

Tasks/Point people 

COVID test

The next surveillance testing date is scheduled for Tuesday Jan. 12th. 

Amanda, Eric and Tracy

Reminders from our health office 

Most people are feeling a lot of different ways at once right now, which is hard for our brains to process and understand. This year has been a difficult year for many reasons. That means that some of your distress is likely related to things other than the holidays. It is completely normal for you to be feeling a bit more emotional than usual right now. Take some time to sort through your emotions in whatever way is most productive for you - you can journal, talk to a friend, or just spend some quiet time alone thinking. Once you have a better idea of the specific feelings you’re experiencing, you can start making plans to cope with them.While the holidays are mainly about thankfulness and celebration, this can also be a really hard time of year, even during normal circumstances. If you’re missing a loved one, think of ways to honor them during your festivities. If someone you love has lost a job or had to drop out of school, take the time to recognize the challenges that came with that. Even if you haven’t lost anything concrete, we’ve all lost our sense of normalcy this year – it’s okay to grieve that during this time. Gratitude is a major focus this time of year, and while it may seem harder to find things to appreciate, there is still plenty to be thankful for. Make a conscious effort to regularly identify some things that you’re grateful for.If you’re still finding yourself sad, hopeless, or unable to enjoy the holidays this year, you may be struggling with a mental health condition. Schedule an appointment with your healthcare provider or access the free services offered through the Employee Assistance Program (888) 834-2830 (available 24/7)

Website: Invest EAP Password: vteap

Amanda & Tracy

High School TA plans for the coming week and after the break!

Break is so VERY close! Next week, since we will only see our cohorts for one day, this is a great time to do a little holiday trivia. I found this quick questionnaire in my internet travels this week. 

Following the Break…

Let’s close out 2020 and ring in 2021:

For 2020:

Materials Needed: Paper strips (I will provide for all TA groups)

On each strip respond to:

What are you glad to leave behind from 2020?

AND: What are some bright spots for 2020?

Share as a group some of your thoughts.

Then...crumple the papers describing what we are happy to leave behind and place in the recycling bin. 

For 2021:

Materials Needed: Post-its (enough for everyone to have several)

Write one hope, dream or goal for 2021 on each post-it. 

I will be creating a bulletin board by the Wellness Center with “2021” at the center. All of the post-its will be placed on the bulletin board as we look forward to the new year! (If you do not have post-its for this activity, please let me know.)

Questions of the Week for Asynchronous Wellness Check in:

1. What did you do during your free time this week?

2. What was your best accomplishment this week?

3. What three words would you use to describe this week?

4. What was your favorite toy growing up?

5. What is your favorite meal to eat on special occasions?

6. Who is someone that always makes you smile? Why?

Ellen

HU Mugs

If you haven’t yet picked up your HU mug stop by the staff lounge to grab yours!  Free coffee refills each Friday in the Wellness Center ;)

Connected 

Topics	Information/Links	Tasks/Point people
Upcoming Dates	DATES  SCHEDULE CHANGE - Similar to before Thanksgiving break we are changing cohort days so we will see both groups of students before leaving for December break. 12/21 - Black cohort 12/22 - Gold cohort  12/23 - 01/03 - December Vacation - NO School 1/29 - Last day of Semester 1/Quarter 2	Meg and Laurie, Duane
Staff Meeting calendar	In order to provide more clarity for the scope of our Staff meetings for the remainder of the year we have drafted a working calendar.  Please note this is a work in progress..
Tech Updates	If you are interested in displaying content on our monitors, located in the main lobby, MS entrance and by the HS gym, contact hutech@huusd.org and we can help with that. (i.e. Powerpoint, message, pictures, student work)

Topics 

Information/Links

Tasks/Point people 

Upcoming Dates 

DATES 

• SCHEDULE CHANGE - Similar to before Thanksgiving break we are changing cohort days so we will see both groups of students before leaving for December break.

• 12/21 - Black cohort

• 12/22 - Gold cohort 

• 12/23 - 01/03 - December Vacation - NO School

• 1/29 - Last day of Semester 1/Quarter 2 

Meg and Laurie, Duane

Staff Meeting calendar 

In order to provide more clarity for the scope of our Staff meetings for the remainder of the year we have drafted a working calendar. 

Please note this is a work in progress..

Tech Updates

If you are interested in displaying content on our monitors, located in the main lobby, MS entrance and by the HS gym, contact hutech@huusd.org and we can help with that.

(i.e. Powerpoint, message, pictures, student work)